CONFERENCE LOCATION The City College of New York Division of Interdisciplinary Studies Center for Worker Education 25 Broadway, 7th Floor New York, NY 10004
Note: A valid government-issued picture ID is necessary to enter the building (passport or driver's license)
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: Carlos Aguasaco (Chair, Department of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences) Bruce Cronin (Professor, Political Science Department; Program Director of Human Rights Studies) Juan Carlos Mercado (Dean, Division of Interdisciplinary Studies) Kathlene McDonald (Associate Professor, Division of Interdisciplinary Studies) Renata Miller (Interim Dean, Division of Humanities and the Arts) Dee Dee Mozeleski (Vice President of the Office of Institutional Advancement and Communications) Andrew Rich (Dean, Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership) Susanna Rosenbaum (Associate Professor; MA in the Study of the Americas Program Director) Irina Carlota Silber (Professor and Chair, Department of Anthropology, Gender Studies and International Studies) Justin Williams (Associate Professor, Division of Interdisciplinary Studies) Martin Woessner (Associate Professor, Division of Interdisciplinary Studies) Danielle A. Zach (Postdoctoral Fellow, Division of Interdisciplinary Studies)
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ABOUT THE CONFERENCE The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights celebrated its 70th birthday on December 10, 2018. Since that statement of principles following the mass atrocities of WWII, the world has witnessed the spread of human rights discourse, norms, law, and institutions at both the domestic and international levels. Eleanor Roosevelt’s prediction that “a curious grapevine” would spread the ideas articulated in that 1948 General Assembly document seems to have come to fruition. Nevertheless, the aspirations of the Declaration remain far from fulfilled, as grave violations of rights continue to be perpetrated around the globe, often with impunity. Economic inequality, racism, sexism, and multiple refugee crises have engendered and exacerbated the rise of political extremism. Addressing such issues, as well as many others, CCNY’s Critical Perspectives on Human Rights Conference aims to explore the contested legacy of human rights in increasingly uncertain times. It seeks to foster dialogue and scholarship from a wide range of perspectives. Some conference presenters are scholars and activists who continue to view the human rights project as a moral and ethical challenge to power; others see it as an enabler of political and economic domination. The Critical Perspectives on Human Rights Conference participants gather to reassess the origins, foundations, and contemporary forms of human rights discourse, ideas, and practice today, seventy years on. The Second Critical Perspectives on Human Rights Conference includes scholars and activists with institutional affiliations from nearly twenty countries: Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The Critical Perspectives on Human Rights Conference is part of a larger initiative at The City College of New York, CUNY—shared among the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership, the Division of Interdisciplinary Studies, the Division of Humanities and the Arts, and the President’s Office—dedicated to human rights studies, public programing, and scholarship.
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CONFERENCE SCHEDULE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20 Check-in: 1:30–2:30 pm
Session 1: 2:30–4:00 pm
PANEL 1: HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL RESOLUTION ON THE RIGHT TO A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT: A CRITICAL TOOL FOR VICTIMS OF ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS? Moderator: Sumudu Anopama Atapattu, University of Wisconsin Law School Room: 7-50 Using New York’s New Environmental Amendment to Promote the Human Right to a Healthy Environment Rebecca Bratspies, CUNY School of Law Right to a Healthy Environment and Labor Rights: Imagining Ecological and Sustainable Communities Chuamtoli Huq, CUNY School of Law Can a Right to a Healthy Environment Deliver Climate Justice? Smita Narula, Pace University The Unfulfilled Promise of Environmental Constitutionalism Amber Polk, Stanford Law School
PANEL 2: NEOLIBERALISM AND ITS CHALLENGES Moderator: Danielle A. Zach, The City College of New York Room: 7-53 Zoom Registration Link: https://bit.ly/3uIm4Uc / Meeting ID: 830 1904 8633 Human Rights and Sustainability: An Odd Synergy (VIRTUAL) Mekobe Ajebe, Case Western Reserve University Promoting Human Rights in the Age of Neoliberalism: The UN's Balancing Act Zehra Arat, University of Connecticut Rights, Development and Resistance in Georgia (VIRTUAL) Konstantine Erastavi, Georgian Institute for Public Affairs Ecological Refugees: Between Environmental Neoliberalism and Ecocide, a Response is Urgently Needed Mónica Sánchez Girao, Amnesty International
4:00–4:15: Coffee Break
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CONFERENCE SCHEDULE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20 Session 2: 4:15–5:45 pm
PANEL 3: WAR, STATE VIOLENCE, AND RIGHTS NORMS AND PRACTICE Moderator: Itai Sneh, John Jay College of Criminal Justice Room: 7-50 Upholding Human Rights While Countering Terrorism: USA and the European Union, 2011-2021 M. Victoria Pérez-Ríos, John Jay College of Criminal Justice War Against Deforestation: Framing New Enemies while “Protecting” the Environment Fernando López Vega, Johns Hopkins University Juan Corredor-García, The CUNY Graduate Center Child Soldiers and the Rise of an International Human Rights Norm Jennifer Mueller, Marymount Manhattan College
PANEL 4: STATE RESPONSIBILITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS LAW Moderator: Danielle A. Zach, The City College of New York Room: 7-53 Zoom Registration Link: https://bit.ly/3DqOu9c Is there Hope for Human Rights in Hong Kong after Ukraine’s Invasion? Human Rights at the Law’s Edge Juliette Passer, Stonybrook University Ivanka Cheung, Stonybrook University (undergraduate) and Students4HK Transitional Justice in Arab Countries after the Revolutions: A Case for Human Rights Bashar Malkawi, University of Arizona The “Social Media Justice Gap”: Comparative Legal Analysis of Approaches to Social Media Regulation Under United States, German, and International Law Esther Jaromi, Queen Mary University of London Port State Responsibility in Seafarer Abandonment Situations: A Study in Light of Human Rights Law (VIRTUAL) Mohit Gupta and Dr. S. Shanthakumar, Gujarat National Law University Onus of the State in Safeguarding Children of Incarcerated Parents (VIRTUAL) Nikitha A., People’s Union for Civil Liberties (undergraduate)
6:00–7:30 pm: Keynote Address Room: Auditorium
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KEYNOTE SPEAKER FOUNDING AND FORMER INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT CHIEF PROSECUTOR
LUIS MORENO OCAMPO
WAR AND JUSTICE IN THE 21ST CENTURY Luis Moreno Ocampo was the first Chief Prosecutor of the permanent International Criminal Court, based at The Hague (June 2003 - June 2012). His office was involved in twenty of the most serious crises of the 21st century including Iraq, Korea, Afghanistan, and Palestine. He conducted investigations in seven different countries, including Libya and Sudan. He details his experience in his forthcoming book, War and Justice in the 21st Century (Oxford University Press, August 2022). Previously, Mr. Moreno Ocampo played a crucial role during the transition to democracy in Argentina. In 1985, he was the deputy Prosecutor in the Junta trial in Argentina, and later he led investigations against guerrilla leaders and Army officers involved in two military rebellions and dozens of cases of corruption involving high-level public officers. Mr. Moreno Ocampo was a visiting professor at Stanford University, Harvard University, and Hebrew University. He currently teaches at The City College of New York (Division of Interdisciplinary Studies) and at the University of Southern California (School of Cinematic Arts). 6:00-7:30 pm, Auditorium Register Here for Zoom Link: https://bit.ly/3wRFLM7
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CONFERENCE SCHEDULE THURSDAY, APRIL 21 Check-in: 9:30–10:30 am
Session 1: 10:30–12:00 pm
PANEL 5: HEALTH, POLICY, AND LAW Moderator: Danielle A. Zach, The City College of New York Room: 7-49 Authoritarianism and COVID-19 Lea Diaz, Murcia State University COVID-19 Mortality: At the Intersection of Pandemic, Public Policy and Social Inequality in the United States Lorraine Frisina Doetter, University of Bremen COVID-19 Pandemic, Community Stigmatization, and Human Rights of Minorities in India Azim Khan, School for International Training
PANEL 6: DEHUMANIZATION, TOLERANCE, AND SPEECH Moderator: Bruce Cronin, The City College of New York Room: 7-50 Zoom Registration Link: https://bit.ly/3iR6gJt / Meeting ID: 859 9972 2544 No More Tolerance: A Case for Forsaking a Problematic Human Rights Tool Zehra Arat, University of Connecticut The Believer-Citizen: Human Rights, Sovereignty and the Challenge of Religious Populism in South Asia (VIRTUAL) Johann Chacko, SOAS University of London Human Rights Advocacy and Internet Governance (VIRTUAL) Dennis Redeker, University of Bremen Othering, Torture, Genocide, Memory: A Historical Perspective on Dehumanization Itai Sneh, John Jay College of Criminal Justice Regulating Free Speech in the Marketplace of Ideas Jack L. Snyder, Columbia University
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CONFERENCE SCHEDULE THURSDAY, APRIL 21 PANEL 7: MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES Moderator: Carlos Aguasaco, The City College of New York Room: 7-53 Zoom Registration Link: https://bit.ly/3LABy3h Critical Perspectives on Social Work and Social Policy Practice with Vulnerable Migrants: Exploring Anticolonial Human Rights Narratives Erick da Luz Scherf, University of Stavanger The Human Rights of Undocumented Children: the Right to Education, Access to Health and Social Welfare for Undocumented Children in South Africa (VIRTUAL) Takalanga Maziya, Rhodes University Migration vs. the State: Security, Democracy, and the Media Janet Reilly, University of Nebraska Caste, Migration, and the Challenges to the US Civil Rights Act of 1964 Ashok Kumar The Refugee Situation of Health and Human Rights and Theories of International Law (VIRTUAL) Shivam Gomber, University of Washington
1:00–3:00 pm: Special Event Room: Auditorium
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THE LIFE AND SCHOLARSHIP OF
ERIC WEITZ A MEMORIAL TRIBUTE PANEL TO CCNY’S DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF HISTORY
HYBRID FORMAT IN-PERSON AND VIRTUAL CCNY CWE AUDITORIUM 25 BROADWAY, 7TH FLOOR NEW YORK, NY 10004
TO ATTEND VIA ZOOM REGISTER:
BIT.LY/3QRVC5C Eric D. Weitz was Distinguished Professor of History at City College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. He was also the former Dean of Humanities and Arts at City College. Trained in modern German and European history, Weitz also worked in international and global history. His scholarship profoundly shaped the fields of genocide and human rights studies. His most influential works include: A World Divided: The Global Struggle for Human Rights in the Age of Nation-States (2019); Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy (2007; Weimar Centennial (third) edition 2018); A Century of Genocide: Utopias of Race and Nation (2003; reprint with new foreword 2014), and Creating German Communism, 1890-1990: From Popular Protests to Socialist State (1997), all with Princeton University Press.
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PROGRAM Welcome Opening Remarks Opening Presentation Panel Discussion Q&A
PANELISTS Rajan Menon is the director of the Grand Strategy Program at Defense Priorities, the Anne and Bernard Spitzer Chair Emeritus in International Relations at the Powell School, City College of New York/City University of New York. He is also a Senior Research Scholar at the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, Columbia University, and a Non-Resident Scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His research and book publications focus on the politics of former Soviet bloc countries, alliances, US foreign policy, and humanitarian intervention. Sarah K. Danielsson is Professor of History at Queensborough Community College, CUNY, and Executive Director for the CUNY Academy for the Humanities and Sciences. She also teaches at the CUNY Graduate Center. Her research and teaching interests include, modern European intellectual history, history of nationalism and nation-states, history of genocide and human rights, history of geography/historical geography, modern central European history, transnational history, history of ideas.
Sandrine Kott is a full professor of Modern European History at the University of Geneva. Her main fields of expertise are the history of social welfare and labour in France and Germany since the end of the nineteenth century, and labour (and power) relations in those countries of real socialism, in particular in the German Democratic Republic. In Geneva she has developed the transnational and global dimensions of each of her fields of expertise by taking advantage of the archives and resources of international organisations and particularly of the International Labor Organization. A. Dirk Moses is Frank Porter Graham Distinguished Professor of Global Human Rights History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a historian of global human rights history, particularly in relation to genocide, memory, and intellectual history.
Jack L. Snyder (Moderator) is the Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of International Relations in the Political Science Department and the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University. His publications concern armed conflict, democratization and war, imperial overstretch, atrocity prevention, international relations theory, and anarchy and culture.
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CONFERENCE SCHEDULE THURSDAY, APRIL 21 3:00–3:15 pm: Coffee Break Session 2: 3:15–4:45 pm
PANEL 8: GENDER, VIOLENCE, AND MIGRATION Moderator: Danielle A. Zach, The City College of New York Room: 7-50 Zoom Registration Link: https://bit.ly/3wSGfRY / Meeting ID: 818 3584 2429 When Gross Violations of Human Rights are Gender Specific: The Emerging Special Challenges of Women in IDP Camps in Nigeria Alungebe Oziegbe-Anozie, Rivers State University Turning a Blind Eye to Workers' Rights? Voices of Female Immigrants on the Impact of Live-in Domestic Work on their Labor Rights, Working Conditions and Healthcare in Greece Theodoros Fouskas, University of West Attica Immigration Barriers for Undocumented Immigrants in Canada: Additional Violence for Victims of Domestic Violence? (VIRTUAL) Gabriel Melo Viana, Osgoode Hall Law School East African Queer Diasporas and their Political Economies Austin Drake Bryan, Northwestern University
PANEL 9: ART/FILM/FICTION Moderator: Carlos Aguasaco, The City College of New York Room: 7-49 Zoom Registration Link: https://bit.ly/38d1MKV / Meeting ID: 859 1730 7746 “Get Home Safe” - Art as Resistance, Human Rights Education, and Liberation in Incarcerated Spaces (VIRTUAL) Marissa Gutierrez-Vicario, The City College of New York Across the Border on the Big Screen: Depictions of Crossing the US-Mexico Border in Cinema and Why it Matters Lisa Rifkind, American Museum of Natural History and The City College of New York Coming to Terms with the Future: Climate Fiction and Human Rights in the 21st Century Eric Reeves, The City College of New York (undergraduate)
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CONFERENCE SCHEDULE THURSDAY, APRIL 21 PANEL 10: COURTS AND LAW Moderator: Itai Sneh, John Jay College Room: 7-53 Zoom Registration Link: https://bit.ly/3JSuBu9 / Meeting ID: 812 4196 4156 The Role of Courts in Shaping Human Rights in a “Borderless World” Ari Tobi-Aiyemo, A.T. Socio-Judicial Consulting, LLC The European Court of Human Rights’ Public Schools Jurisprudence (VIRTUAL) Patrick Leisure, Masaryk University Surrogacy and the European Court of Human Rights (VIRTUAL) Koen Lemmens, KU Leuven - Centre for Public Law Looking Back to Look Forward: Developments in the Right to Legal Capacity for Persons with Disabilities Paula Campos Pinto, CIEG/ISCSP-University of Lisboa Challenges to Accessibility: Assessing the Committee Jurisprudence (VIRTUAL) Indrasish Majumder, National Law University Odisha (undergraduate)
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CONFERENCE SCHEDULE FRIDAY, APRIL 22 Check-in: 9:30–10:30 am
Session 1: 10:15–11:45 am
PANEL 11: WOMEN, JUSTICE, AND RIGHTS Moderator: Danielle A. Zach, The City College of New York Room: 7-53 Zoom Registration Link: https://bit.ly/3DrThXU / Meeting ID: 833 1745 5807 Race, Gender, and Surrogacy Marisa Almeida Araújo, Universidade Lusíada Access to Justice for Women and Girls in Southeast Asia: The Case of Cambodia (VIRTUAL) Francesca Braga, Middlesex University The Women Fighting a Battle of Rights, Justice and Survival: A Study on the Lives of Widows of Mob Lynching Victims vis-à-vis the Role of the State in India Oishika Neogi, Karwan e Mohabbat Rethinking the Virginity Test in Police Recruitment in Indonesia (VIRTUAL) Monotar Tampubolon, Christian University of Indonesia
PANEL 12: ATROCITY CRIMES AND HUMAN RIGHTS TOOLS Moderator: Jennifer Mueller, Marymount Manhattan College Room: 7-52/53 Zoom Registration Link: https://bit.ly/37bKn4S / Meeting ID: 835 1980 5170 Game-Changer or PR Stunt? The U.S. Global Magnitsky Act and the Expansion of Human Rights-Related Sanctions Louis Charbonneau, Human Rights Watch and the CUNY Graduate Center EWAS and the False Positives: Institutional and Tool-Based Innovations for Early Warning Action Systems to Prevent Government Atrocity Justin Brennan Perry, Georgetown University Preserving the R2P Momentum: Norm Entrepreneurs’ Continued Framing of Atrocity Crimes as a Global Challenge Jonas Fitzler, Bielefeld University When States Fail: Local Civil Society Organizations and the Fight Against Mass Atrocities Dorian Provencher, Marymount Manhattan College (undergraduate), former intern at the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P) Rights of War Crimes Victims: Approaches of South Korea and the United States of America Hyokyung Jung, University of Auckland
11:45am–12:00 pm: Coffee Break 12:00–1:30 pm: Special Event Room: Auditorium
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THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT AT 20: WHAT NEXT FOR INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE? Time: 12:00-1:30pm Room: Auditorium Register here for Zoom link: https://bit.ly/3wQvrUB Since its establishment at the turn of the century, a central preoccupation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has been to catalyze—through the principle of complementarity—the pursuit of criminal accountability at the domestic level. This roundtable discussion will explore what impact the ICC, now operational for twenty years, has had in certain countries, how its interventions have evolved over time, and what challenges it has faced. Participants will also consider broader questions about the future of accountability for atrocity crimes in both international law and politics. Where does international criminal justice today stand as a field and a practice? How should we be thinking about the future of the field? And what role should the ICC play—or not play—in the next twenty years?
PANELISTS Christian De Vos, Director of Research and Investigations, Physicians for Human Rights Angela Mudukuti, Senior Legal Adviser, Global Justice Center Sharon Nakandha, Program Officer, Africa Regional Office, Open Society Foundations Ruti Teitel, Ernst C. Stiefel Professor of Comparative Law, New York Law School Danielle A. Zach (Moderator), The City College of New York
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PANELIST BIOGRAPHIES Christian De Vos, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), serves as the director of research and investigations, responsible for managing research and investigation program areas, overseeing PHR’s publications, and developing new areas of work within the organization’s framework of investigating human rights violations, documenting evidence to support accountability processes, and advocating to prevent these crimes. Prior to joining PHR, he was a senior advocacy officer with the Open Society Justice Initiative. De Vos has published widely in the fields of human rights and international criminal law. He coedited the volume Contested Justice: The Politics and Practice of International Criminal Court Interventions (Cambridge Press, 2015) and his book, Complementarity, Catalysts, Compliance: The International Criminal Court in Uganda, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (Cambridge Press, 2020), won the “Book of the Year” Award from the International Law Association’s American Branch. Angela Mudukuti, is Senior Legal Advisor at the Global Justice Center, where she works with the legal program through research, writing, and advocacy. Angela is a Zimbabwean human rights lawyer, specialised in international criminal law. Angela has worked for a number of organisations including the International Criminal Court, the Open Society Justice Initiative, Human Rights Watch, the Wayamo Foundation, the Southern Africa Litigation Centre and the International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights. Focusing on strategic litigation, advocacy, and capacity building, her work experience includes training prosecutors and investigators to enhance domestic capacity to tackle international crimes, as well as working on universal jurisdiction and precedent-setting cases before South African courts, including enforcing the ICC arrest warrant of the former president of Sudan during his visit to South Africa. Sharon Nakandha, Program Officer for Open Society Foundations’ Africa Regional Office, is a Ugandan-trained lawyer. She was a member of the external team of lawyers representing victims in the Dominic Ongwen trial before the International Criminal Court and has also served as a Director of the Victims’ Support Initiative, a national victims’ advocacy group. She was in the inaugural class of the Open Society Justice Initiative’s Aryeh Neier Fellowship program and also worked as the international justice program officer for Uganda with Avocats Sans Frontières. She has researched and published in the area of international justice. Ruti Teitel, Ernst C. Stiefel Professor of Comparative Law, Co-Director, Center for International Law, New York Law School. An internationally recognized authority on international law, international human rights, transitional justice, and comparative constitutional law, Ruti Teitel is the Ernst C. Stiefel Professor of Comparative Law at New York Law School, Co-Director of the Center for International Law, and Director of the Institute for Global Law, Justice, and Policy. She was a Straus Fellow at New York University Law School’s Straus Institute for the Advanced Study of Law and Justice (2012– 13). Her path-breaking book, Transitional Justice, examines the twentieth century transitions to democracy in many countries. Born in Argentina, Professor Teitel’s interest in the topic grew out of the dilemmas confronting that society in the transition out of junta rule. The book explores the recurring question of how new regimes should respond to past repression. Professor Teitel has also written Globalizing Transitional Justice, which provides observations and insights on how the practice and discourse of transitional justice has been evolving, especially in relation to the rise of international criminal law and the increasing centrality of international human rights. Her book, Humanity’s Law, explores a paradigm shift in international affairs.
1:30–2:00 pm: Closing Ceremony Room: Faculty Lounge
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HONORARY CONFERENCE CHAIR
Vincent Boudreau was appointed president of The City College of New York by the Board of Trustees of The City University of New York on December 4, 2017. For the past three years, he has served as the founding dean of the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at CCNY. From 2002 through 2013, he served a as the founding director of the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at CCNY, and is a professor of political science at City College and a member of the City University of New York graduate faculty. A specialist in the politics of social movements, particularly in Southeast Asia, his latest book is Resisting Dictatorship: Repression and Protest in Southeast Asia (Cambridge University Press) He also conducts research about government transitions to democracy, collective violence, and the relationship between civil society, social movements, and democratization processes in Indonesia and the Philippines. At City College, where Dr. Boudreau has worked since receiving his degree, he served as the director of the M.A. Program in International Relations, the chair of the Department of Political Science, the director of the International Studies Program, and the deputy dean of the Division of Social Science. He serves on the editorial committee of Comparative Politics, and has undertaken projects with ActionAid Asia, Jubilee South Asia, The Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement, and Freedom House.
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The City College of New York was founded by Townsend Harris in 1847 as the Free Academy of the City of New York. It is the first public institution of higher education in New York City and the precursor to CUNY. At a time when higher education in America was limited to children of the wealthy and privileged, CCNY was established to provide children of immigrants and the poor access to free higher education based on academic merit alone. Dr. Horace Webster, its first president, described the college as an experiment dedicated to educating “the children of the whole people.” This has remained CCNY’s unwavering mission ever since. Now, in our 170th year, the City College of New York continues to offer an ideal learning opportunity for students, providing an affordable world class education in a wide variety of disciplines. Today, more than 15,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in the College of Liberal Arts and Science; Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture; School of Education; Grove School of Engineering; Sophie Davis Biomedical Education/CUNY School of Medicine; and the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership. Spitzer, Grove and Sophie Davis/ CUNY School of Medicine are the only such public schools in New York City. Bolstered by an outstanding faculty whose research and scholarship is widely applauded, access to excellence remains CCNY’s vision. U.S. News & World Report, Princeton Review and Forbes all rank City College among the best colleges and universities in the United States. In its 2016 rankings, U.S. News placed CCNY among the nation’s “Most Ethnically Diverse” institutions. Other accolades come from the Center for World University Rankings that has listed CCNY “one of the world’s best institutions of higher education,” and the American Institute of Physics as a, “a top producer of physics graduates in the nation.”
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City College’s distinguished alumni include ten Nobel Laureates with the most recent winner being neuroscientist John O’Keefe, Class of 1963, in 2014. Originally situated at 23rd St. and Lexington Ave. in lower Manhattan, CCNY moved uptown, to its now landmarked neoGothic campus in Harlem, in 1907. The college is currently led by Dr. Vince Boudreau, a dedicated member of the campus community for more than 25 years, and the founding dean of the Colin Powell School.
About The Division of Interdisciplinary Studies at the Center for Worker Education The Division of Interdisciplinary Studies at the Center for Worker Education (CWE) is on the Downtown Campus of the City College of New York/CUNY. Founded in 1981, it is one of the leading working adult educational institutions in New York City. It provides working adults with small classes, flexible schedules, individualized attention, an innovative curriculum, and all the resources of a world-class academic institution. Life Experience credit is available. CWE offers a Bachelor of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences and a Bachelor of Science degree in Early Childhood Education, with special concentrations in Childhood Studies; Disabilities Studies; Global Labor Studies; History, Politics, and Society; Literary, Media, and Visual Arts; Social Welfare; Urban Studies and Public Administration; and the Americas. CWE also offers a Master’s Degree in the Study of the Americas, with a BA/MA option, which enables students to complete both degrees in a shorter time period.
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The Frances S. Patai Program in Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Studies Among the most unique aspects of the Center for Worker Education is its commitment to supporting a diversity of profound, yet topical, educational opportunities. One such example of this commitment is its Frances S. Patai Program in Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Studies. The Patai Program at CWE supports courses, conferences, and symposia, as well as public lectures, lectureships, and an annual student essay competition—all dedicated to the lasting and transformative lessons of Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Studies. In addition to being one of the first female graduates of City College, Mrs. Patai was a strong supporter of providing educational opportunities to those people who would otherwise possibly not have access to a formal university education. With this in mind, Mrs. Patai bequeathed a generous donation to CWE that allowed for the creation of a program that now bears her name. Mrs. Patai was motivated by three aims when she gave her support. First, she wanted to keep alive the memory of those volunteers who joined the Abraham Lincoln Battalion to fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War. Second, she wanted to make sure that students did not forget the Holocaust. She believed that education was an important way to prevent the reoccurrence of genocide. Third, she supported programs that encouraged students to use their knowledge as a springboard for exploring other mass atrocities, including both the realities of contemporary genocide and the ongoing global struggle for human rights.
https://rightstalkccnydowntown.buzzsprout.com/ With authoritarianism, nationalism, and xenophobia on the rise, gaping global wealth disparities, and the accelerating climate emergency, human rights appear increasingly fragile. Rights Talk is devoted to engaging contemporary challenges around the world across the human rights spectrum of civil and political rights; economic, social, and cultural rights; and solidarity rights, including to a safe and healthy environment. The podcast invites critical perspectives and questions the future of rights in the twenty-first century.
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In step with the most cutting-edge trends in interdisciplinary education, the M.A. in the Study of the Americas grounds students in a broad vision of the Americas while allowing them to explore more individual interests. Our 30-credit program combines a variety of perspectives, including literature, anthropology, history, philosophy, urban studies, cultural studies, film, and political science to subjects such as race, gender, human rights, contemporary politics, immigration, and popular culture. Our program provides an affordable, world-class education, offering small classes with dedicated professors who are experts in their fields, as well as the possibility of taking courses at other CUNY campuses. Part of the largest public urban university in the US, our students have access to a vast and vibrant intellectual community, and, our location, at the heart of New York City’s Financial District, allows easy access to everything the city has to offer. Possible Degree Options - MA in the Study of the Americas - MA in the Study of the Americas: Dominican Studies Track - MA in the Study of the Americas: Human Rights track. For additional information, please contact: Prof. Susanna Rosenbaum, Director srosenbaum@ccny.cuny.edu 212.925.6625 ext. 208 citycollegeamericasma.org
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Add a subheading City College Downtown ccny.cuny.edu/cwe